


Inevitability

by galaxysoup



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 09:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxysoup/pseuds/galaxysoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than one friendship was derailed by the Narada’s arrival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inevitability

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS: Takes place after the end of the first reboot movie and refers to some events in the original series.

When they’d first landed back on Earth after defeating Nero, Leonard had been sure the chaos would only last for so long. With the destruction of a good part of the fleet and the corresponding loss of personnel it was understandable that everyone would have to pitch in wherever they could, but sooner or later the brass would be able to recall enough personnel to sort themselves out.

He really should have known better than to try out optimism. As it is, he’s been going non-stop since they landed and the only end in sight is leaving on another mission. With wet-behind-the-ears cadets being shuffled onto work details in areas where they have little practical understanding, there have been a lot of accidents and injuries. Leonard’s a senior medic with actual front-line experience, and he’s been in demand _everywhere_. His sleep patterns haven’t been this piecemeal since he did his residency, for crying out loud. He’s actually _hoping_ to be sent into space.

At the moment he’s pitching in at the clinic next to one of the main hangars. The hospital is his usual beat, but there had been an engine misfire and the medic in charge of the clinic had burst into tears when he was confronted with so many casualties and had had to be sedated. Leonard had just gotten out of surgery, so he was technically free, and would he mind...?

Yes, Leonard had goddamn minded, but he’s a doctor and there were people in need and so he’d buckled down and gotten to it, even though he was about ready to declare _himself_ medically unfit just so he could take a damn nap.

Now the seriously injured have been stabilized - no fatalities this time, thank God - and Leonard’s just left with the minor issues: bumps and scrapes, and one poor ensign who’d mostly just needed a hug and permission to cry.

Leonard steps into the breakroom and leans back against the wall, closing his eyes. It’s not a nap or anything close to it, but if you practice medicine in some of the situations Leonard has then you learn to take what you can get. Sometimes two minutes of silence can work wonders.

“Doctor McCoy?”

And sometimes twenty seconds is what you get, and you do your best to make that be enough instead.

“Yes, Nurse... yes?” 

The nurse doesn’t look offended that Leonard can’t remember hir name, which is good because Leonard can barely remember his own damn name at this point.

“Sorry, sir, but we’ve got one patient left and he asked for you specifically. It’s a minor issue, just a slip and fall, but I think he’s one of the Vulcan elders.”

Fantastic, a really _important_ pointy-eared hobgoblin. Leonard takes a second to run through one of the calming exercises that any doctor dealing with a telepathic species needs to be at least passingly familiar with and then goes to find his patient.

It’s not one of the elders he’s met before, after the evacuation from Vulcan, but he has the same bearing and supercilious eyebrow and oh God, the haircut. Sometimes Leonard really does wonder about that damn haircut.

“Hello, sir, I’m Doctor McCoy. I understand you had a fall?”

“That is correct,” the Vulcan says. He’s sitting pretty comfortably but he’s holding his left arm. He probably tried to break his fall as he went down. “Logic dictated that the fire retardant chemicals used after the engine misfire would make the floor slippery and that once I lost my balance gravity would ensure my descent, but unfortunately logic was unable to provide me with a soft landing.”

Leonard blinks. That sounded almost a little bit like a joke.

He eyes the Vulcan. The Vulcan watches him impassively. Maybe not.

“Well,” he says finally, “how’s logic on the nature and location of any injuries?”

The Vulcan extends his arm and Leonard scans it carefully. The bone is intact but there’s some swelling and damage to the ligaments. Just a sprain, and easily fixed.

“I’ll be able to heal this up pretty quickly, but I’d like to give you a support brace as well, just in case. You’re going to have to make it back across the hangar floor, after all.”

“A logical precaution,” the Vulcan says approvingly. “Doctor, are you at all curious why I requested you specifically?”

“Too damn tired to be curious,” Leonard says, “but sure, now that you mention it.”

Before the Vulcan gets a chance to answer, there’s a commotion by the clinic’s entrance. With the skill of long practice, Leonard identifies the disturbance as Kirk, James T., injured but not seriously given the way he’s hitting on the nurse. There’s a bored murmur underlying the Kirk-brand chaos; Spock’s here, too.

Leonard sighs. “Would you mind excusing me for a moment? I’ll be back with the support brace.” 

It turns out to be nothing serious, just Jim trying to pitch in and help where he has no business being and then getting himself hurt for his troubles, and the nurse is more than capable of dealing with it. Leonard stays just long enough to loudly read Jim the riot act for recklessness and to tell Spock to use his mightily fearsome logic to knock Jim out and sit on him if it becomes necessary to protect him from his own idiocy, and then he collects the support brace and heads back to his own patient.

“Sorry about that,” he says as he steps back into exam room. “A recurring patient of mine -” he stops, taking in the odd expression on the Vulcan’s face. “Something wrong, sir?”

“I am simply reflecting on universal constants,” the Vulcan says, and he sounds almost... well, if he weren’t Vulcan, he might sound almost wistful. “Was that Commander Spock from the USS Enterprise?”

“And Jim Kirk, the Captain,” Leonard says, and just barely manages to bite back the automatic _getting into trouble as usual_.

“Their friendship seems to be developing well.”

“It’s practically predestined,” Leonard says, and winces at the tinge of bitterness to it. It’s good that Jim and Spock are getting along now - Jim needs good people working with him, and Spock seems to be dependable when he doesn’t have his head up his ass. It’s not their fault that Leonard is piss-poor at forming meaningful adult relationships and gets upset when his only friend starts spending time with someone else.

Embarrassed, he ducks his head to avoid the Vulcan’s gaze and gestures with the brace. The Vulcan holds out his arm again.

“You were assigned to the Enterprise with them?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Then I have a favor to ask of you, if you will permit it.” The Vulcan turns his hand suddenly, catching Leonard’s. Leonard freezes - he knows about the Vulcan touch taboo. “There are few enough of my people left that it is necessary to take greater care with the remnants. Will you watch over Commander Spock as you watch over Captain Kirk?”

Leonard swallows. The Vulcan’s hand is warm around his, and strong despite his advanced age. “If I’m assigned to the Enterprise - “

“I suspect you will be.”

“Then yes. Of course. I’m a doctor, I watch over all my patients.”

“Captain Kirk seems to need a greater degree of oversight than the average for your species. I suspect Commander Spock will prove to be the same,” the Vulcan says, his eyes boring into Leonard’s.

“Okay,” Leonard stammers. “Yes, all right. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

The Vulcan’s hand tightens momentarily around his and then lets go. “Thank you. That is a source of relief to me.”

Leonard eyes him. “If you don’t mind me saying, you seem different from the Vulcans I’ve met. You seem...”

“More human?” the Vulcan suggests, eyebrow arching.

Leonard snorts. “Hard to get more human than beating the crap out of someone who insults your mother. More open, I guess.”

“A fair point,” the Vulcan says, with what almost looks like a smile. “I have lived a very long life, and I have perhaps had more prolonged contact with humans than many of my race. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that your attitudes have rubbed off on me, but I suppose it would be accurate to say that I have developed an appreciation for some of your more eccentric qualities.” His gaze unfocuses a little. “A human very like you once carried my soul for me, at great risk to himself. He was an exceptional friend.”

“Is that common?” Leonard asks quietly. Vulcans don’t usually go in for euphemisms - this one probably means that bit about the soul quite literally. “I mean, is it something I should know how to do?” He reaches up and taps the side of his head. “As a doctor.”

The Vulcan stares at him. “It is not common, no,” he says finally. “I hope it is not something that you will ever be called upon to do. If you do run into difficulties, however, please contact me at the Vulcan colony.”

“Of course,” Leonard says, recognizing the end of the conversation and stepping back. “I will, thank you. You should be all set now, but if you notice any pain please have that wrist checked out.”

“I shall. Thank you, Doctor McCoy.” He stops at the door and turns. “Live long, and prosper.”

Leonard fumbles to return the gesture. The Vulcan reaches out and gently nudges his fingers into place. “Likewise,” he manages. This Vulcan is practically handsy, which is weird and... almost reassuring, in an unsettling kind of way. 

The Vulcan is out in the hallway before Leonard realises he’s going to have trouble contacting him for help if he doesn’t even know his damn name. “Hang on,” he says, and nearly barrels into Spock when he gets out into the hallway. There’s a confused moment where Leonard nearly falls over himself trying to avert a collision and Spock ignores him completely.

“Mister Spock,” the elderly Vulcan says, nodding cordially. “I trust you are well?”

“I am,” Spock says coolly. “I hope that your presence here does not indicate a serious malady, Mister Spock.”

“I am quite well and just departing. Thank you for your concern,” the Vulcan says, and vanishes down the hallway.

“Hang on, ‘Spock’?” Leonard says. “That was Spock? The one from the other timeline?”

“Indeed,” Spock - young Spock - says. “You were unaware?”

“Yes, I damn well was,” Leonard says indignantly. “I didn’t - he said -” he flounders to a stop. Young Spock is eyeing him with detached curiosity.

_A human very like you once carried my soul for me,_ the elder Spock had said. Leonard groans and rubs his forehead. He’s too damn tired for this crap.

“Doctor McCoy, are you unwell?”

“Just tired, kid,” Leonard says. “Look, Spock, if I’m going to be your doctor, we should probably sit down at some point and go over Vulcan physiology and customs. Just in case.”

Spock’s eyebrow arches. “I am not a child. You anticipate that we will be assigned to the same ship again?”

“I think it’s practically damn predestined,” Leonard sighs. It looks like he’s going to have to make another friend, somehow, regardless of cultural incompatibilities and certain thickheaded obsessions with logic.

Damn it. This will work out to be Jim’s fault somehow, Leonard’s sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Because Spock and Bones’s friendship was one of my favorite parts of the original series.


End file.
